Space battles have always been my interest, either in movies or video games. When I see a massive battle in space with hundreds of ships and rockets, I watch it. Since the release of the first Star Wars Battlefront games (the ones released in the 2000s), I have not only watched but participated in space wars.
Evasive Maneuvers is an online spaceship arena game with 2-12 players and two teams. The game was developed by SkyPyre Studios, located in Ottawa, Canada. They also released two other titles, including The Blobs Fight and Halen Ballad of Blade Thief. We can say that they have experience in creating games for an indie studio.
Hunters and Runners Choose Your Side
Now, it is time to talk about the gameplay. First and foremost, it is a game about runners and hunters. Runners need to escape from the map with warp gates. Hunters must stop them at all costs. There are four ships for the hunters and runners each. But as much as we know, it is cosmetic.
The hunters’ mission is to destroy the runners no matter what. They have gadgets and weapons that will help. Even if you have the most deadly weapon, without the right strategy, you will fail. The tools in your arsenal are Sonar, which is for detecting the runners; EMP, which disables the gadgets of runners temporarily; and a wall that only hunters can fly through. If you play as a team member and combo your attacks –with the wall and EMP, runners have nowhere to run!– you will succeed.
But don’t be so sure because runners have their tricks up their sleeves. Runners have flares (for deflecting incoming missiles) and cloaks (for temporary camouflage). You must have good reflexes and a team spirit for victory.
I can see myself enjoying myself as a hunter. I love stealth and cunning tactics. Surprising the enemies with rockets(or throwing knives) from the shadows is a joy only Assassin gamers will understand. Also, as a stealth tip, you can cool down your engine and hide. And keep in mind that high speed will leave a trace.
Lastly, if you join mid-game, you will have to wait for the round to end.
Customize Your Ship in Evasive Maneuvers
You can customize your ship. Change its model, pattern, and color. I am a fan of personalized vehicles in video games. Creating my phantom hunter design is my first plan for Evasive Maneuvers. But I must say that I am a little afraid of these features for two reasons. One, and most importantly, this might give some players an advantage to hide or blend the map more easily. Second, related to my first point, if these camouflages are microtransactions, this might cause pay to win. I think developers will notice this possible issue. And design the gameplay so that these modifications won’t affect the overall gameplay(like in other popular titles).
For now, devs released five maps for Evasive Maneuvers. Maps are uniquely designed and structured for the most fun and challenging experiences. From what we can see, they have their color pallets and vibes. That also concerns me about the previous point about fitting your ship with the environment. Developed also said that split-screen won’t be a feature for the upcoming release. As you might have guessed, we don’t know all the details about the game so far. Also, everything we know is subject to change since Evasive Maneuvers is still in development.
Overall, Evasive Maneuvers is an indie game with unique features and competitive gameplay. The game has good visuals and mechanics for an indie title. After seeing all the footage and features, we can give Evasive Maneuvers a 7/10. We like what SkyPyre Studios is going for and can’t wait to see the release.
Don’t forget to add it to your wishlist on Steam. As you might have guessed, Evasive Maneuvers has controller support: Xbox One, Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 3 ( for oldies). For all the players who want to join the space battles, here are the recommended system requirements:
- OS: Windows 8/10/11
- Processor: Intel Core i7-8700 / Ryzen 7 3600 or equivalent
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia GTX 1060 / Radeon RX 580 or equivalent
- DirectX: Version 11
- Storage: 3 GB available space
